Decoy molds

james canady

james canady

New member
I was woundering if anyone made their own foam decoys and any suggestions on production. Im not looking to make a mass amount and sell im just looking to sell all of my plastic decoys and have a whole diver spread of burlaped foams.
 
I looked into doing the same thing around a year ago.
Lots of molds out there and there are guys here that are willing to lend them to you in return for a decoy or two.
Two routes to go:
EPS Foam Beads: Easy to work with, just coat mold with corn oil, "fill" with beads and boil. Out pops a decoy. Problem is that you have to find a local source of beads or the shipping will absolutely kill you. Why? Cause EPS beads are "hazardous cargo" or some bs like that. Plus boiling them one head & one body at a time can take a while and you can go through a lot of gas in the process.

2 Part Foam: Easy to get, easy to figure out the mixture. Same deal, coat mold with release agent, pour in foam, out pops a decoy. The problem is that now you have to get the release agent off or paint wont stick. You can sand or sand blast the whole decoy or figure out the trade secret release agent removal method other guys who sell them use. But they arent talking and I dont blame them.
I do hear that if you use a hard plastic coat you can use regular talcum powder as a release agent but have no confirmed that. My understanding of this method, is that you coat the mold with release agent, coat the mold with the plastic coat then fill the mold with 2-part foam.

In the end, I carved decoys from old scrap EPS foam logs I found scattered around after the oil spill and then burlapped them.
 
Do a search of Tom Rowe on here and I think you might find what your looking for. Tom seems to know about molds and mold making, a little bit!


canpaint1.jpg

 
I made all of my divers... won't win any awards... but they were only $62/doz + paint they take getting shot and look how strong they are. 2 part urethane is the only way to go... 8# foam for heads.... and at least 5# foam for the bodies...

truckondecoy2.jpg


This is a link to pictures of more of my decoys...
http://s295.photobucket.com/...hesapeakeboy/decoys/

I got my molds from Black Lab Decoys. Don't believe Tony does the decoy molds any longer.

I used a wire brush on a bench grinder to scuff the surface... Lou Tisch told me to use acetone to remove the the mold release for painting.


Also check out:
http://foamdecoys.net/
http://workingdecoys.net/
 
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Where did you get the foam? All the places I looked at were very expensive. I used the eps beads and they worked well but I like the foam much better.
 
US Composites... to get 5#, you have to order the 5 gallon kit... The EPS MUST be burlaped, if you want to have strong decoys...
 
If your looking to buy a mold you can still get a diver mold from R&R Sports. This is a Decoys Unlimited mold and is a suc duck style. If you don't want a suc duck you can always pour two part foam into the cavity and cut it off flat to make a solid decoy. I'm thinking about making some more this summer.

Mark
 
How many bodies do you get out of a 5 gal pale? I guess it is 10 gal when your done because you have to mix both parts right? How much do you need for the heads in the 8#? I did burlap the ones I made and they are good but the heads are cracking.
 
4 1/2 to 5 dozen out of a 5 gallon (10 gallon) order. I think the suc ducks suck... at least the ones that I made, do!
 
I made a dozen out of the mag diver mold from American and burlapped them. I went with the urathane. I thought the body shape was a little too long for the width so I sawed of the flat tail feather area and they look a lot better IMHO. This also made them a lot easier to burlap. I bought mag painted heads from Ureaduck. Big mistake on the heads. Their paints sucks. Some of it came off during shipping to me. The heads looked like crap after two trips out on the river. The size and shape was a good fit so I repainted them after the season with parker paints. I inbedded a wood strip in the bottom of the body and screwed on wood keels that had lead poured into a slot on top sides. They're completely self righting. But heavy at bit over 2 lbs each. I like the way they turned. Despite the work it is really nice to hunt over decoys you made yourself. Hat's off to all the carvers out there. That's some serious work.
 
If you don't put keels in they will not self right... no need for wood... a little Dap 200 caulk and 2 3 " screws... all you need.

Gray, why did you burlap urethane? out of precaution, or need?
 
I recently bought a coot head mold off off ebay. Bought the urethane from us composits . They sell a mold release that has no silicone in it . Its a spray rattle can. Worked great. Not one got stuck. I did these in the house where it was warm not in the ice cold shop. Let everything get room temp. I poured part A and part B into two seperate squeeze water bottles and used disposeable shot glasses(1 oz) to measure what I needed. I then poured into a 3 oz dixie cup to mix. The water bottles made the measuring precise . I did 2 dozen heads. In the past I ran all the heads through the dishwasher when the wife wasnt around. I had a good system of pouring then doing something around the house and coming back 20 min later popped the head out and repeat. bob
 
I also have the same goal as you James!

I have purchased a mold and poured two bodies and heads and have recently attempted carving foam by hand also. I have a long ways to go, but, I'm having a BLAST!

Here's what I have done so far:

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Nice job on the pink foam board decoys ,but what did you use to get the nice body curves and smoothness with. would also like to know how the elec cutting rig was built and voltage that sure is a neat set -up.
 
Cas,

the hot-wire cutter started out with a piece of bailing wire from stitching my boat and a 12v battery charger, but has since been changed to a thin piece of NiChrome wire from the hobby store and a RadioShack 1.5amp 12volt power supply and it works great! I just traced the top and side views of the body and cut them out. Then I used a RotoZip with a flexshaft and rasp burr to carve the foam. The head has an 1/8" piece of hardboard between two pieces of foam cut to the outline of whatever head I want. Just round off the foam and cut it down to the hardboard pattern and finish shaping. After shaping, I just hand sand a little bit and burlap it. You can do as many coats over the burlap as you want. Some people like the texture of the burlap but I chose to cover it as much as possible and do my own texture.
 
James,

Making molds for your own decoys is NOT hard. There is a little bit of a learning curve and some investment in materials to get started. I'd be more than happy to help you out any way I can.


Once you figure everything out the possibilities are endless. Here are some pics of the diver rig I made and hunted over this year.

diverrig3.jpg


diverrig2.jpg

 
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